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Reports of Growing African Foot and Mouth Problem

AFRICA – Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is on the rise in Africa, from southern regions to a new Algerian outbreak in the north this week, according to official disease surveillance reports.

World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) updates also show flare-ups in Botswana and Zimbabwe, frequently in areas where wild animals come in close contact with grazed cattle.

Biosecurity is frequently breached on communal grazing and watering areas, says the OIE.

South Africa and Zimbabwe have been confirmed with serotype SAT2. Official Laboratory reports have not yet confirmed Botswana’s serotype.

Algeria’s serotype is O, confirmed in sheep and cattle, as opposed to purely cattle elsewhere. Algerian vaccinations totalled over 4,500 sheep, cattle and goats across the northern districts of El Bayadh and El Oued, according to government sources.

A spokesperson said: “The animals showed the following clinical signs: stomatitis, lameness, blisters in a very small number of sheep on gums and on interdigital spaces. No deaths have been reported; the morbidity rate is about 5.96 per cent”.